


Storybook

by VerityXxX



Series: White Boots [7]
Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-28
Updated: 2018-07-28
Packaged: 2019-06-17 09:59:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15458847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VerityXxX/pseuds/VerityXxX
Summary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7N5j3q1zO1w





	Storybook

**Author's Note:**

> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7N5j3q1zO1w

_You read me a chapter of storybook love_

_When the night was a blanket around us_

 

 

“Hey Evgenia,” Yuzu murmured under his breath his voice still heavy with sleep rolling round to face Zhenya. His hair was ruffled and wild and his torso was bare from where it could be glimpsed under the sheets.

 

Zhenya propped her head up on her hand as she smiled down at him and she couldn’t help but remember what had happened last night between the pair of them, “I like it when you say my name like that as though you have all of the time in the world.”

“Evgenia,” Yuzu repeated letting the syllables sprawl out and he smiled indulgently at her before trailing his fingers down across her collarbone and Zhenya felt something shiver within her and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. “Last night was good.”

 

“Yeah,” Zhenya agreed and she could still feel Yuzu’s hands grazing over her hips and running through her hair with the head from his touch leaving imprints across her body in her mind marking her as his. “Was I okay?”

 

“You were amazing,” Yuzu grinned and Zhenya could see his already dark eyes dilate slightly as they traced over her curves, which were visible underneath the faint covering that the thin sheet provided. Zhenya opened her mouth to speak but Yuzu covered her lips with one of his skilful fingers and Zhenya found herself blushing remembering what that finger had done to her the night before. “I don’t regret it at all,” Yuzu said after a moment as though he could read her mind and Zhenya laid herself back down into the fluffy pillows still tired.

 

Yuzu shifted now so he was leaning over Zhenya with his body weight running though an arm that was planted besides Zhenya’s head. “What is it?” Zhenya asked when Yuzu didn’t say anything but just traced his hand across her cheek following the contours the same way he had traced lines across her body the night before.

 

“Nothing you’re just beautiful,” Yuzu murmured before leaning in and pressing a kiss as light as the last snowflake of a blizzard on her forehead.

 

Zhenya shifted in her positioning feeling oddly vulnerable whilst hoping that Yuzu would kiss her lips again. He had just leant over to kiss her again when he stiffened and pulled away before sitting up straight the sheets pooling around his waist exposing his chest which lit up in early morning light and against the white fabric appeared to be hewn from marble. “Is something wrong?"

 

_I think we both knew that the dream would dissolve_

_When the cold light of morning had found us <_

 

 

“What time is it,” Yuzu said his voice oddly seriously and Zhenya felt her earlier elation disappear as she leant over to check her phone. She didn't know what he was doing but part of her knew that regardless the perfect night and morning they had hared was over.

 

“ 7:30,” She turned back to Yuzu catching sight of the alarm clock that sat on the side table next to the bed that read the exact same time. “The same as the clock why?”

 

Yuzu turned away towards the pile of clothes that they had cast aside the night before and grabbing his pair of boxers began to shimmy them on, “I was hoping the clock would be wrong.”

 

“Why?” Zhenya asked confused, starting slightly when Yuzu passed over her plain underwear from the night before. They were both plain white the same color as her skin and the sheets though as Zhenya clasped her bra on she couldn’t help but spot a small purple hickey that Yuzu must have left. Frowning slightly, Zhenya adjusted the white fabric until it covered the mark up as though it had never been there and all was exposed was an expanse of unblemished skin.

 

Yuzu stood up now pulling his trackies on and Zhenya struggled to keep her eyes off him unable to understand how he made the most ordinary of actions spellbinding. Grabbing an oversized t-shirt from beside the bed that was one of Zhenya’s favourite tops to sleep in that fell to her mid thigh she pulled it on quickly. “I have a meeting with Orser in half an hour.”

 

Zhenya bit her lip unsure of how she was supposed to react to this, as this wasn’t how it was supposed to go before shaking her head. They were athletes before anything else and Yuzu had worlds in under a month so he had to be at the meeting. “Well hurry up then,” Zhenya said finally sliding her legs over across the bed till she was standing by Yuzu and picking up his jacket that he had rested over her shoulders the night before she held it for him so that Yuzu could easily slide his arms in.

 

“Thanks and I’m so sorry,” Yuzu said fully dressed now as he adjusted the cuffs. Zhenya stepped to the side to allow Yuzu to pass and be plopped a kiss on her forehead in the same distracted manner her father had done when she was a child. “Stay here I’ll be back in an hour and we can get back to this.”

 

Zhenya nodded her hair falling forwards into her face with Yuzu gone out the door Zhenya pushed herself to her feet and pulled opened the curtains to illuminate the room with the cool light from morning.

 

_You have what you need, and it isn’t from me_

_And it hurts but it’s not a surprise <_

 

The room was quiet and cold in his absence and Zhenya could feel the blood pulsing around her body to all of her extremities with the formality of soldiers marching perfectly in time. Pushing herself to her feet Zhenya glanced around the room uncertain of what she was supposed to be doing and she grabbed her phone quickly checking for messages so that she wouldn’t get in trouble for missing a training but it was a Sunday meaning it was her day off. Her mum had left two messages though neither were overly concerned and Zhenya had a vague memory of calling her the night before between Yuzu’s harsh kisses to tell her mother that she was okay and didn’t mind being home alone and that there was nothing to worry about.

 

Zhenya dropped her phone down on the windowsill before turning to the large double bed and spotting the stains that they had left the night before marking the sheets. Her mother if she saw those stains would know exactly what had happened and Zhenya couldn’t afford for that to happen. Moving forward swaying slightly with her head spinning Zhenya found herself ripping the sheets off of the bed stripping the bed down until all that remained on the bed were the pillows with the bedding on the floor tangled around Zhenya’s feet. Part of Zhenya felt like vomiting when she looked down at the mess of everything that she’d made but she instead calmed her breathing down and minutes or hours may have passed as she stood there motionless until finally her chest was rattling in and out at a steady pace and her face felt less clammy.

 

Her phone rang from across the room and Zhenya started at the ring tone and she tried to move towards it but she tripped on the sheets with her feet trapped within them as though they were quicksand and she caught herself on her forearms whilst the phone rung merrily. Ripping her bare feet out Zhenya crawled forwards a few steps before grabbing the phone and without looking at the caller id answered it just before it would go to voice mail.

 

There was no sound and Zhenya was about to hang up blaming it on a prank call or a wrong number when she heard a voice emitting from the phone faintly that she recognized. She pulled the phone away from her ear to glance at the caller id to realize it was from Yuzu and she pressed it back to her ear.

 

“You know you’re late,” a voice finally said and despite its distortion and the cracks in the audio Zhenya was easily able to identify it as belonging to Orser.

 

“I’m sorry I was busy,” Yuzu finally said and Zhenya flushed knowing exactly what Yuzu had been busy with and why he was late for their meeting.

 

There was a long pause and Zhenya found herself waiting for someone to break it anxious. “It wasn’t anything important I hope,” Brian said probing gently and Zhenya couldn’t help but remember the night before with every second of it imprinted on her memories.

 

“It was nothing,” Yuzu said defensively and Zhenya wanted to cry out and say anything because how could it be nothing when she could feel a dull ache in her body and still had marks on her body that Yuzu had left but she just covered her mouth and sunk down so that her back was resting against the wall. There was a pause and Zhenya could imagine Brian looking at Yuzu skeptically when the Japanese skater said, “My only priority right now is the world championships and skating well for japan as they need me.”

 

 

_The sweetest of words in our storybook love_

_Are the sweetest of storybook lies_

 

“I’m glad you have your priorities straight,” Brian remarked and he sounded like a proud father but inside of Zhenya something was breaking because despite everything Yuzu had said to her the night she wasn’t the type of priority that Brian wanted for Orser. “You know I was worried for a moment or two when Zhenya had first arrived that something would happen between the pair of you but I’m glad that you two were so sensible about it all.”

 

Yuzu chuckled and Zhenya could hear it reverberating though her skull like the ringing of a bell until he finally spoke and his words cuts through the mess, “That would never happen. She’s a good friend and all but she’s still just a child.”

 

Her stomach dropped into her shoes and if Zhenya thought that she had been nauseous before now she wanted to retch. He had worshipped her body and every expanse of pale skin the night before as she had been illuminated in the moonlight and the faint light from the corridor. He had praised her femininity and called her a woman, an adult that night and commented on how she had grown up but now she was just a child. He had toyed with her and all those kind words were now just lies.

 

“That’s a little harsh,” Brian rebuked sternly in his parental fashion and Zhenya could hear Yuzu tucking his hands into his pockets in a stubborn gesture of defiance. “She’s twenty now you know that.”

 

“I know,” Yuzu complained petulantly like the child he accused Zhenya of being and she didn’t understand where all of this was coming from. She had thought that he had enjoyed everything last night as much as she had but she didn’t know now. Maybe it was just a game for him. “I guess I didn’t get much sleep last night I’m just a little grouchy.” He hadn’t been grouchy this morning Zhenya could still envision that sunshine smile that Yuzu had fixed on her when he had woken up and rolled over saying her name in his Japanese accent.

 

“Was it noisy last night,” Brian commented. “If so I can look into sorting that out.” It had been silent in Yuzu’s room except from the delicate music that Yuzu had set to play with a stray hand and the sound of them moaning and gasping out at each other’s touch.

 

“Something like that,” Yuzu agreed. “I was just very distracted.” If he had been distracted he’d done a good job of hiding it with his hands able to detect the slightest tension in Zhenya’s body as though he was tuned in just to her. Unless Evgenia was the distraction preventing Yuzu from performing at his highest level and the idea of that made Zhenya feel all the worse. She never wanted to cause trouble and she’d told Yuzu that much when he had found her crying.

 

Brian hummed just loud enough to be picked up by the speakers in Yuzu’s phone, “You don’t have time for distractions you know that. Not until World’s are over.”

 

“I know,” Yuzu said solemnly, and Zhenya hung up the phone unable to listen to anymore. She should have hung up immediately recognizing that he must have called her by accident and was unaware of the fact that Zhenya had been able to listen in but that implied Zhenya was a better person then she was.

 

 

Y _ou read me a chapter of storybook love_

 _My hope overcame my suspic_ ion

 

Standing up her legs frail and stiff Zhenya made her way to the bathroom and turning on the tap she sprayed cold water on her face as though to wake herself up. The entire thing felt like a bad dream and all Zhenya wanted to do was go back so that she was waking up beside Yuzu and he never had to leave her.

 

It had been so perfect the night before. Yuzu had found her crying at the bus stop after a bad training and the pressure of worlds was looming up against her after Alina had beaten her at Euros for the second year running. He’d held her until she had stopped crying and wiped her tears away with a white handkerchief and then having tucked the soiled scrap of fabric in his pocket offered to drive her home.

 

Zhenya had refused she didn’t want to be a burden on Yuzu as it was already late and they had training the next morning but Yuzu laughed and repeated his offer and insisted and Zhenya found herself in his car with the engine running before she had realized what was happening. Delicate romantic music was emitted from the stereo and Zhenya let the long elaborate phrases was over her calming her down until her tears from before seemed like another world.

 

“Are you feeling better,” Yuzu had asked finally and Zhenya had nodded unable to say any other words. The stars and the moon were surprisingly bright that night and Zhenya couldn’t take her eyes of Yuzu illuminated as such in their light and she wanted to draw him the way he was right then before tracing the constellations out along his body following the hard edges and angular planes that made him up.

 

Yuzu sent her a gentle probing look that was reflected in the mirror of the car and Zhenya despite looking away from Yuzu was unable to escape, “I’m just scared I’m not going to be good enough and I’ll be beaten by Alina again and then next year the quads will come and I won’t be able to keep up.”

 

“I know,” Yuzu said finally. “It’s not just you who’s scared but the thing is I’m not ever going to be Nathan or even Stephen and you’re never going to be Alina or Sasha. But you are Evgenia Medvedeva and that means something because all those qualities that I love about you they don’t have and it’s those qualities which are why you will succeed.”

 

The car had stopped somewhere during this speech outside of Zhenya’s house but Zhenya didn’t notice her mind still whirling from his speech and both Yuzu’s admission of his vulnerability as well as his unconditional support for her that he had just declared. A smile had crossed her face reflected by the window in the dark, “So what qualities do you love about me.”

 

Yuzu had laughed but said nothing and Zhenya sighed only now realizing she was home and she turned to Yuzu to thank him for her ride but somehow and without her realizing they were kissing. Yuzu’s kisses had been aggressive and almost hungry demanding more from her and Zhenya felt herself being almost dragged out of her chair and into the middle of her car by Yuzu’s non-relinquishing grip on her waist and lower back that hauled her towards him.

 

His hands moved from her back to slide the jacket he had leant her somewhere along the way off and when they separated for a few seconds Zhenya had found herself asking why he was doing this because she didn’t want him to think it was a mistake and Yuzu just kissed her back all the harder for it. They had somehow made it out of the car together and whilst Zhenya was trying to unlock the door her hand was shaking as every time she got close Yuzu who was holding her from behind would press another kiss against her neck or clavicle or he would run his hands along her exposed arms and by the time the door was open Zhenya was a quivering wreck.

 

The house was dark and empty with every counter spotless, as her mum must have scrubbed before she went out and Zhenya spun around as they stepped through the door pressing Yuzu into the now closed door taking control. He had chuckled and run her hands through her long dark hair and Zhenya had slid her hands under his t-shirt desperate for any touch. He’d picked her up then with Zhenya’s legs wrapped around his waist and murmuring comforting nothings into her hair about how beautiful she was and how perfect and how he’d wanted to do this for so long since before the Olympics and how stunning every curve and line of hers and Zhenya had believed every word.

 

The doorbell rung downstairs and Zhenya realized what a sight she was but with her face still dripping wet slightly and her hair a disheveled mess she started to head downstairs only to open the door to see Yuzu who has already returned as Zhenya must have spent longer than she had realised in the bathroom standing on her doorstep.

 

 

_You spoke of ideals and you made it seem real_

_I suppose we both knew it was fiction_

 

“Hey,” Yuzu said and his smile is brighter than the sun behind him that turned the ends of his hair almost reddish and Zhenya wanted to touch the fine strands and marvel at how soft they were but that wasn't her place anymore whilst the rest of her wanted to close the door in his face and not let him in.

 

“Hey,” Zhenya mimicked her tone as cold as the stripped bed upstairs. “The rest of your stuff is upstairs if you want to pick it up.”

 

“What’s wrong,” Yuzu asked and his voice sounds so concerned that Zhenya almost believed it but her phone was heavy in her hand and almost burnt her and she just stepped aside to let Yuzu in.

 

The door slammed shut behind him and Zhenya started slightly at the harsh noise, “It’s nothing. We just can’t do this.” She was a fool for thinking that anything could actually happen between them and that anything he’d said the night before was real.

 

Yuzu stepped forward until he was looming over Zhenya, “What happed after last night. I need you right now and I thought you were the same.”

                                                                                                                                 

“Japan needs you,” Zhenya said quoting back to him what she had just heard him saying to Orser not twenty minutes ago and based off his reactions Yuzu knew that to. “And I need to train and improve.”

 

“How did you know,” Yuzu managed at last and if Zhenya was correct he looked at her as though he was betrayed. But he was the one who had lied. The one who had whispered stuff into her ears when it was just them only to contradict it the second that anyone had asked him about it. He was the one who didn’t want to own whatever this was.

 

Zhenya glanced down at her phone; “You called me by accident in the meeting. I hung up after a few minutes but I heard enough.” That was an understatement Zhenya had heard more than she’d ever needed to know but it had all been accurate and Yuzu couldn’t just double back now claiming that it was all a lie because he was right.

 

“What did you hear,” Yuzu said his voice deadly silent and Zhenya couldn’t work out why he was so mad. Was there something important that she had missed after she had hung up that she wasn’t supposed to know or was it just that his true feeling for her hat he told Orser were the secret.

 

Zhenya sighed running her hand through her hair thinking back to the conversation she had overheard. It was not even an hour ago but somehow everything had changed, “Well apparently I’m a child who distracts you and didn’t let you sleep properly last night despite the fact that you were the one who kissed.” Her voice was shrill by the end and Zhenya hated it but she just dug her nails into her palms with all of the strength she had until they left half moon shaped imprints in her skin.

 

“I was just saying what Brian wanted to hear,” Yuzu began weakly and there was something boyish and unsure in his expression that Zhenya wasn’t used to seeing.

 

Zhenya shook her head unable to listen to this, “What because I’m not the type of priority he wants for you. Cause all I do is cause trouble cause I’m a silly girl.” She had been his only priority last night from the second he had found her and he’d refused to leave when he realized she’d be home along and he’d lavished her with attention and held her until the morning.

 

“You’re making a big deal out of nothing Evgenia stop acing like a child and be the adult that you claim you are,” Yuzu chided and Zhenya wanted to smack that confused expression right off his annoyingly perfect face.

 

“ Well I guess it’s my fault because who was I to believe that twice Olympic champion would ever care for a mere mortal. “ Zhenya’s voice broke and she bit back at the sobs that threatened to escape furiously and she could feel herself back on that bed looking up at Yuzu and how special he’d made her feel. She wasn’t Evgenia Medvedeva Russian athlete and he wasn’t Yuzuru Hanyu all round GOAT for figure skating but instead they were just two people who cared about each other. “ You just made it seem so real and as though whatever was between us somehow made sense in the way that nothing has been making sense for me lately.”

 

 

“Stop taking that conversation so personally,” Yuzu said frustrated. “Brian would say that about any girl.”

 

Zhenya was mad now and all of the fury bubbled up inside her hot like fire or acid corroding everything beyond repair, “Well it felt personal last night. Or do you fuck all of those girls as well.” 

 

_You read me a chapter of storybook love_

_We spoke of the union that bound us_

 

Yuzu swallowed hard and Zhenya watched him in the same way one might watch a grenade that could go off at any time, “There aren’t any other girls.” His voice was quiet and still and if Zhenya had expected him to explode win reaction to her words he’d proved her wrong.

 

“What do you mean?” Zhenya asked and she wanted to leave with her head spinning round and round faster and faster until she felt dizzy with his presence invading her senses overwhelming her.

 

He bit a lip uncertain of what he ought to do but then he cast his neck back exposing the curve of his neck as though he was throwing his hesitation aside, “I can count the number of girls I’ve fucked on one hand.” His face contorted horrifically at the word fuck and Zhenya almost felt bad. “And those since I moved to Canada on one finger.”

 

Zhenya paled realising what he meant and she didn’t know what to do at Yuzu’s confession and he was more vulnerable than he’d ever been for as long as Zhenya had known him. “I didn’t realise,” she said softly but her phone vibrated in her pocket and Zhenya remembered everything that had happened. It wasn't as though she slept around and whilst Yuzu wasn't her first he meant more to her than the person she'd lost her virginity to. “But then it should mean something. Unless it was a mistake because if it is we can forget all about it.”

 

“A mistake,” Yuzu said and his face paled and Zhenya almost wanted to go for a bucket as he looked as though he was about to vomit but she didn’t and just eyed him her face deadpan. “Is it a mistake for you?”

 

“This isn’t about me,” Zhenya said dismissively not wanting to answer the question because she didn’t know the answer and confronting it scared her. “But I do regret it.” She regretted it all—for getting so caught up in the moment and forgetting about the mundane quality of life; for thinking that they’d work in real-life and not just in snatched moments and that magical night; for letting Yuzu leave her this morning without kissing her properly one last time and for answering that phone this morning that gave her answers to questions she had never wanted to ask.

 

Yuzu’s jaw stiffened, “In that case it’s a mistake.” His words hurt more than Zhenya had expected and they cut into her and she almost winced. “I’m sorry for everything.”

 

“There’s nothing to be sorry for,” Zhenya said as matter-of-factly as she could manage. “We can always just be friends if that’s okay with you.” She wasn’t sure how that would work but she couldn’t leave him alone not after last night. Even if they never acted on it there was still a link between them now that could never be broken.

 

Yuzu nodded brusquely, “Sounds like a plan. Can I grab the rest of my stuff from your room then?”

 

“Sure,” Zhenya agreed before heading up the flight of stairs conscious that the last time they had done this she had been in Yuzu’s arms and it had taken them well over twice as long to scale the twenty-eight steps. “Your stuff is there,” she pushed the door open to reveal the small pile of items Yuzu had shed the night before from a small set of headphones that had been tucked in a pocket to his necklaces and bracelets and something contracted with Zhenya as she watched him pack up all of his stuff.

 

Yuzu stood up his pockets bulging with everything that she had returned to him, “I’ll see you at training tomorrow.”

 

“Yeah,” Zhenya said nodding weakly and when she stood up from her bed she swayed precariously. Yuzu took several steps forward quickly to grasp her by her forearm and lower her down so she was sitting on the bed.

 

He was too close to her and for a second Zhenya thought he would kiss her again and she felt as though she had gone back to the night before and they could just forget about the day but she could see the ruined sheets on the ground still and they couldn’t go back. “You stay here I’ll let myself out,” Yuzu suggested at last and Zhenya nodded her room still swaying.

 

She could hear Yuzu rattle around as he prepared to leave and the door close behind him and Zhenya knitted her hands together as she rested her throbbing head on them and she could almost imagine the sound of the ocean in her ears though it was just the still running tap that Zhenya had left on when she had gone to answer the door and in her head she could see the water overflowing the basin and drowning the entire house

 

_Each time we’re together that story seems real_

_When we let those deep waters surround us_

 

The next time she properly spoke to Yuzu was at the gala after worlds and whilst she had left her medal in her room Zhenya could still feel the weight of the gold medal around her neck weighing her down.

 

“You don’t look as happy as you should,” Yuzu said leaning over from where he was sitting on the table next to Zhenya’s. “I thought this is what you wanted.”

 

Zhenya turned to look at Yuzu and she couldn’t help but see Eteri standing with Alina beside her the younger girl who despite skating cleanly had been beaten by Zhenya by a point and a half and all Zhenya felt for her was pity. Alina was shrinking away from Eteri and every time a skater approached to talk to her Eteri was frightening them off until they were alone in the corner and Zhenya was more glad than she had ever been that she wasn’t with Eteri anymore and had been able to win on her terms not anyone else’s. “I know. I guess I never thought about the consequences.”

 

“What consequences?” Yuzu asked thoughtfully and Zhenya weighed up how much she could tell him. She trusted Yuzu despite their rift more than most people but if she’d learnt anything it was the more you confided in others the more likely it was that it would all just blow up in your face.

 

Zhenya purses her lips, “ Eteri will take this out on Alina she already has I think and with the juniors going senior Eteri won’t need her as much” Eteri had done a similar thing to Yulia and Zhenya has watched and learnt hoping that after Polina and Yulia she’d be third time lucky. Maybe she was in that she was the only one who’s been able to escape Eteri in one piece and if anything improve.

 

“Did she do that to you,” Yuzu asked slowly recognition darting across his features and Zhenya felt as though she had said too much because Yuzu if she knew him wouldn’t let this tidbit of information go if there was anything that he could do.

 

“I never lost,” Zhenya said simply and she hadn’t by the time she’d been injured and Alina had beat her those first two times Eteri’s attention had shifted and her skaters were still winning even if the order had swapped around. It had been the same when Zhenya had eclipsed Yulia—the only problems came about when the current star pupil wasn’t winning and there was no one in the wings who could replace her.

 

 

“You don’t need to worry about others Evgenia just you and your skating,” Yuzu chided in his usual manner as though he was far older that his twenty-three years and she knew that he had seen what she had and that he didn’t want to think about what Zhenya has just said though he would unpackage her statement to every inch of its life when he was alone in his room this evening because that was the way Yuzu worked. He would be questioning it and the connotations but in front of her he would do his best to make her feel better and not give any of his inner working away which would have been more successful if Zhenya hadn’t known him so well for the last three almost four years.

 

Zhenya chuckled, “Is that what you do?” Yuzu was known for getting in his head and whilst Zhenya knew that he practised yoga for the explicit purpose of helping him achieve the meditative state and releasing tension that didn’t stop him from making silly mistakes and when Yuzu started falling the program even on practise didn’t tend to go well.

 

Yuzu looked askance for a few seconds before joining Zhenya in laughter, “I try to but I’m a hypocrite and to be fair it’s a lot harder to do than to say.”

 

“You have nothing to worry about though,” Zhenya said reassuring though he did and she did, as neither of them could know what was coming next. “You were incredible.” His long was with him going completely clean and breaking a world record as he obtained fours and fives in GOEs to beat every other skater easily but his short had been a nightmare though with him messing up his quad combo and his solo quad that had landed him in seventh place leaving him no room to make more mistakes and with a clean performance from Shoma mathematically unable to take the gold.

 

 

_The sweetest of words in our storybook love_

_Are the sweetest of storybook lies_

 

“I still lost,” Yuzu said frowning and those three words were heartbreaking as they were almost identical to what Zhenya had said just over a year ago in Pyeongchang.

 

Zhenya rolled her eyes before quoting back to him, “Second isn’t a loss and you can improve.” Yuzu looked at her skeptically at this. “Besides Japan still got the gold medal.”

 

“It’s not the same though,” Yuzu said frowning. “I like to be the one Japan needs not Shoma if you understand what I mean.”

 

“I understand,” Zhenya answered easily because she did in a way that no one else could. “Everyone wants to be needed more than they need others and you’re used to being needed by an entire nation.”

 

Yuzu smiled weakly and Zhenya knew that she had hit the nail on the head and whilst they did lie to each other all the time pretending that they were fine being friends they could both read each other with ease. “This all paid off well for you though. Loosing to Alina all through the season and now beating her at the biggest competition of the season winning your third world gold medal.”

 

It had been harder than Yuzu seemed to realise and after that night whilst Yuzu’s training hadn’t changed Zhenya had thrown herself into training to forget stretching when she wasn't in the ice rink and attending as many fitness classes as Orser let her get away with on her days off. She had been careful to avoid Yuzu but she had also been both first on the ice and last of it and just before Worlds Orser had given her the go-ahead to start seriously training the quad salchow for the next season. “It’s a real fairy tale ending,” Zhenya noted idly. Despite the many downs in this season and at times Zhenya feeling almost as bad as she had when she had lost out on the Olympic medal when it came down to it the highs were better she had defeated her stepmother of sorts in Eteri because Zhenya could never wish any harm on Alina and more than anything else with the help of Orser she had been able to come out on as a better skater breaking all of the records that she had set throughout the years. “All I’m missing now is my prince.”

 

“You’ll find him,” Yuzu said softly and Zhenya could see regret in his eyes before he leant forward and moving away from her as his chair swung back so instead of resting on two legs it was on all four and he was back at his own table. 

 

“I know,” Zhenya murmured and she knew that she was lying to herself if she thought there would ever be anyone else. She already had found her prince but her life wasn’t a fairy tale and unlike the lies in the story books she had loved as a child the choices that one made meant that even if you got what you wanted in the end there wasn’t always a happily ever after.

_The sweetest of storybook lies_


End file.
